Egg packing material



March 4, 1952 A. w. NELSON ET AL.

EGG PACKING MATERIAL Filed Dec. 7, 1946 Patented Mar. 4, 1952 EGG PACKING MATERIAL Arthur W. Nelson, and Torris H. Alfreds, Park Ridge, Ill., assignors to Mapes Consolidated Manufacturing Company, Grith, Ind., a corporation of Delaware Application December 7, 1946,.S,eria l,N0. 714,716

(Cl. 21T-34)` 3 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in egg packing material and` it consists of the matters hereinafter described and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims. The invention is more especially concerned with a packing material for use inconnection with one of the cellular llers and associated pad in a packed egg case to limit the bending and collapse of the tips of certain of the strips forming said ller and the thereafter occurring breakage of eggs in the cells of the filler, due to the longitudinal shifting movement of said fillers during transport or shipment of the packed case.

Breakage of eggs during the shipment of a standard pack egg case occurs generally to the greatest extent in the eggs in the upper layers thereof. The reason is that under the starting and stopping of the transport vehicle, the uppermost layers of the column of pads and cellular llers in the compartment of the case shift longitudinally to such an extent thatv the tips of the strips oi the filler, in the direction ofthe shifting or movement, impact against the solid walls of the case compartment and at times bend or collapse. After the collapse of these tips, the end strips of the ller in that layer impact against said solid walls with such force as to cause breakage of the eggs.

One of the objects of the invention is to provide packing material adapted to be inserted into position between two of the solid walls of the case and the adjacent end strips of the cellular filler in one or more of the layers of packed eggs, to limit the bending of the tips projecting outwardly from said adjacent end strips toward said walls and thereby prevent said end strips from engaging or contacting said walls.

A further object of the invention is to provide material of this kind which is so constructed as not only to limit the bending of the strip tips, but also to afford yielding portions against which the end strips may engage with a cushioning action to avoid the solid stop effect heretofore present and which produced much ofthe egg breakage.

Another object of the invention is'to provide material which is separate from any of the pads used in packing the eggs, which may be readily positioned in the case and which is efficient in action in preventing the breakage of eggs during shipment.

Also, it is an object of the invention to provide material of the kind mentioned, which may be used with egg pads of both the seated and seatless type and which may be readily made of molded pulp and will nest with others for assembly into a stack for shipping purposes.

The above mentioned objects of the invention, as well as others, together with the advantages thereof, will more fully appear as the specification proceeds.

In the drawing:

Fig. l is a longitudinal vertical sectional View. through the upper portion of a compartment of an egg case and illustrates the improved material therein as employed between the opposite ends of the topmost ller insaid compartment and the adjacent rigid walls of the case.

Fig. 2 is a top plan fragmentary view of parts at the left hand end of Fig. 1, the improved material therein being shown partly in elevation and partly in longitudinal section.

Fig. 3 is a detail vertical sectional view through parts appearing in Fig. 1 as taken on the line 3-3 and on a scale enlargedv over that, of said Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a View in elevation of a piece of the improved packing material in a flattened condition.

Fig. 5 is aY view of parts appearing in the upper left hand corner of Fig. 3 and illustrates the use of a modified form of packing material therein.

Fig. 6V is aview in elevation of the modified form of packing material appearing in Fig. 5

in a iiattened condition.

In general the improved packing material, which is preferably made of molded pulp, includes a strip-like body portion of a length and height approximating that of the cellular ller member and this length also approximates that of one side of the pad member with which the improved packing material is used in a standard egg case pack. The improved material may be employed f throughout the case and on all four sides of the ller, or there may be but two in each compart` ment of the case, as shown in the drawings, one betweenlthe egg case partition and one end of one of the uppermost set of iiller and flat or pad members, and one between the end wall of the case and the other end of said set of ller and fiat or pad members.

The body of theY material is formed to 4provide longitudinally spaced pairs of shoulders, with the shoulders of each pair arranged to be disposed upon opposite sides of the filler tip strips projecting outwardly from the associated adjacent end strips and to so coact with said strips as to limit their bending in the shifting movement of the ller and pad members toward the egg case parti-` tion orend wall under the action that occurs during shipmentl in a transport vehicle. The body of the material is preferably formed in the areas or the zones between the pairs of shoulders with parts that project outwardly toward the outermost adjacent ller strips to receive the impact of parts of said strips between the tips thereof to cushion the impact of engagement in the movement of said filler strip and pad member above mentioned. With the material made as hereinafter described, the tips of the filler strips engaged between the pairs of shoulders cannot bend to such an extent as will permit them to collapse. Furthermore, the cushion parts mentioned take the impact in such a manner that the outer strips of the filler member cannot come to such a hard solid stop as would cause a breakage of the eggs in the cells formed by said flller members.

The body is formed along one of its longitudinal edges with a ange portion which may extend laterally therefrom and is intended to be so arranged with parts of at least one of the members mentioned as to be better held in operative position in an egg case.

` Referring now in detail to that embodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawings and especially to Fig. 4, the improved material is in the form of a strip-like body I preferably of molded pulp. Said body is substantially of the length and height of the strips II of a conventional cellular ller member with which it is used in connection with a flat or pad member I2 in the compartment of a standard egg case, as defined by side walls IS-I 3, the partition I4 and one end wall I5, as best appears in Figs. 1 and 2.

The body is formed along that zone between its top and bottom margins I6 and II with a plurality of hollow intermediate and end projections I8 and I9 respectively. These projections are spaced apart by transverse strip-like parts 20 of the body I0.

Each hollow projection I8, which is herein illustrated as square in outline shape, includes four outer walls 2I-2I that converge toward a ridge 22 to there meet and join with associated inwardly converging walls 23 that join together in a bottom 24 disposed in a plane between those of the body I0 and ridge 22 respectively. Each hollow projection I9, which opens through the associated end edge of the body, includes a side wall 25, a face wall 26 and top and bottom end walls 21 and 28 respectively.

The outer side walls of the projections I8 and the side walls of the projections I9 in connection with the strip-like parts 20 of the body I0 therebetween, coact to form channels 29 (see Fig. 2) one for each of the seven strips II of a cellular filler and spaced to accord therewith. Thus the side walls of the parts mentioned form pairs of longitudinally spaced shoulders, one at each side of a channel 29. In this respect it is pointed out that each of the side walls mentioned are soV formed at their ends, as appears in Fig. 4, as to impart a flare to both ends of each channel 29.

Integral with the top margin I8 of the body and joined thereto by a fold line 30 is a flange 3| of a width approximating the distance between the outermost end strip of a filler and the associated end wall and partition of the case and integral with and joined thereto by a fold line 32 is a flange extension 33, which has a plurality of flaring recesses 34 therein that are spaced apart the same distance as the spacings between the strips I I of the cellular fillers.

In the use of the material shown in Fig. 4, after the topmost pad I2 and topmost filler, composed of the strips I I, have been placed in the compartment and the eggs 35 (shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1) have been placed in the seats I2, located in the cells formed by the intersecting strips, the end portions or tips IIa of the strips in one set will project outwardly beyond the outermost strips of the set toward the side walls I3 and the end Walls I5 and the partition I4 of the case, as best appears in Figs. 1 and 2.

Pieces of the material Ill are now grasped by hand with their margins I1 facing downwardly and are inserted into the space between the outer strips II of the filler and the end wall I5 and the partition I4 respectively. In this downward movement of the material, the channels 29 line up with and each receives a tip IIa, as appears in Fig. 2, so that there is a shoulder on both sides of each tip and the ridge 22 of each hollow projection is disposed fairly closely adjacent these parts of the adjacent outer strips between the associated tips. This disposes the back face of the margins I6 and II in engagement with the faces of the partition and end wall respectively of the case. When each piece of material is in position, the bottom edge of the margin I1 substantially engages the edge margins of the pad I2. At this time the flanges 3| and its extension 33 are folded along the lines 30 and 32 so that the flanges 3l bridge the top of the space between the outermost strips and the end wall and partition respectively of the case and the parts of the flange extension 33 between the recesses 34 engage against the inner face of the outermost filler strips II-I I. This positions and holds the material in place.

If desired, before the topmost cellular filler has been placed in the compartment, it may have a piece of the material applied along the side of the ller so that it and the filler may be placed in position in the egg case compartment as a unit. Thereafter the eggs 35 may be placed in the cells.

In Fig. 6 is shown a slightly modified form of structure wherein, instead of having the flanges at the top, as in the material in Fig. 4, a flange 36 is connected to the bottom edge of the margin IIa by a fold line 31. When this structure is in place, the flange 36 is disposed beneath, but in engagement with, the underside of marginal portions of the pad, as best appears in Fig. 5, to be held in position thereby.

With either structure described, the bending of the tips is limited and their collapse is prevented so that even though a shifting movement of the llers and eggs occurs, the end strips, instead of coming to a hard impact against a solid stop, engages the parts I8 and I9 with a cushioning action, which reduces to a minimum, if not completely eliminating, the breakage of eggs in shipment.

In the drawings material has been shown as being disposed on only two sides of the ller. If desired, such material may be disposed on all four sides so as to resist displacement of the filler and eggs in all directions. Ordinarily eggs are shipped in freight cars and for such shipment it is quite sufficient to place the material only as shown in the drawings because the cases are disposed lengthwise of the car and the tendency is to shift the egg pack longitudinally of the case. However, when eggs are shipped by truck, the cases may have their longitudinal axes crosswise of the truck. In that event the material would be more serviceable, if placed along the sides of the compartment. By placing on all four sides full protection is provided for shipment, irrespective of the position of the case in the transport vehicle.

If the material is to be placed along all four sides, the length of the material should be slightly less, so as not to overlap or interfere at the i corners. If the material is to be used in more than the top layer of the case, the form shown in Figs. 5 and 6 is preferable, because the flange 36 can be better accommodated, without increasing the overall height of the pack. The tips of the ller strips are conventionally cut away or rounded at the top and bottom, thus providing a space between the underside of the pad and the top edge of the filler tip in which the flange 36 can be accommodated.

While in describing the invention, we have referred in detail to the form, construction and arrangement of the parts involved, the same is to be considered only in the illustrative sense and therefore we do not wish to be limited thereto except as may be specifically set forth in the appended claims.

We claim as our invention:

1. In combination with an egg case compartment having opposed pairs of rigid upright walls and packed with a plurality of alternate pad members and intermediate ller members composed of intersecting strips defining cells in each of which an egg is disposed, a member disposed between each of one of said pairs of walls of the case and the adjacent outer strips of one of the uppermost iiller members in said compartment, said member including a body portion engagecl with an associated upright wall and means on said body portion and projecting laterally therefrom and providing pairs of longitudinally spaced shoulders disposed upon opposite sides of the iiller strip tips projecting from the associated outer strip of the lller members for limiting the bending of said tips in the shifting movement of said one of said uppermost ller members and the eggs contained in the cells thereof, and means projecting laterally from one of the longitudinal margins of the body engaged with parts of one of said members to be held in operative position thereby.

2. In combination With an egg case compartment having opposed pairs of upright side walls and packed with a plurality of pad members and intermediate llers composed of intersecting strips defining egg receiving cells, a packing device disposed between each of one of a pair of side walls of the case and adjacent outer strips of one of the uppermost llers in said compartment, each device including a strip like body portion, one iiat face of which is engaged with an associated upright Wall, and means on the other face of the body portion providing pairs of longitudinally spaced shoulders disposed upon opposite sides of the tips projecting from the associated outer strip of the ller for limiting the bending of said tips in the shifting movement of said ller and eggs therein toward the associated upright wall, said body portion of each device having top and bottom edges, and means projecting laterally from one of said edges of each device toward the plane of said outermost strip and by which each device is maintained in position relative to the filler as a whole.

3. In combination with an egg case compartment having opposed pairs of upright side walls and packed with a plurality `of pad members and intermediate fillers composed of intersecting strips defining egg receiving cells, a packing device disposed between each of one of a pair of side walls of the case and adjacent outer strips of one of the uppermost llers in said compartment, each device including a strip like body portion, one flat face of which is engaged with an associated upright wall, and means on the other face of the body portion providing pairs of longitudinally spaced shoulders disposed upon opposite sides of the tips projecting from the associated outer strip of the ller for limiting the bending of said tips in the shifting movement of said ller and eggs therein toward the associated upright wall, said body portion of each device having top and bottom edges, and means projecting laterally from one of said edges of each device and crossing and having a hooked engagement with an associated outermost strip of said filler.

ARTHUR WM. NELSON. TORRIS H. ALFREDS.

r REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 926,049 Collins June 22, 1909 1,293,589 Weis Feb. 4, 1919 1,618,381 Lange Feb. 22, 1927 1,626,870 Oxhandler May 3, 1927 1,675,278 Segur June 26, 1928 2,176,284 Whiteford Oct. 17, 1939 2,401,141 DeReamer May 28, 1946 

